Glia-derived neurons are required for sex-specific learning in C. elegans

Michele Sammut, Steven J. Cook, Ken C. Q. Nguyen, Terry Felton, David H. Hall, Scott W. Emmons, Richard J. Poole () and Arantza Barrios ()
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Michele Sammut: University College London
Steven J. Cook: Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Ken C. Q. Nguyen: Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Terry Felton: University College London
David H. Hall: Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Scott W. Emmons: Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Richard J. Poole: University College London
Arantza Barrios: University College London

Nature, 2015, vol. 526, issue 7573, 385-390

Abstract: Abstract Sex differences in behaviour extend to cognitive-like processes such as learning, but the underlying dimorphisms in neural circuit development and organization that generate these behavioural differences are largely unknown. Here we define at the single-cell level—from development, through neural circuit connectivity, to function—the neural basis of a sex-specific learning in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. We show that sexual conditioning, a form of associative learning, requires a pair of male-specific interneurons whose progenitors are fully differentiated glia. These neurons are generated during sexual maturation and incorporated into pre-exisiting sex-shared circuits to couple chemotactic responses to reproductive priorities. Our findings reveal a general role for glia as neural progenitors across metazoan taxa and demonstrate that the addition of sex-specific neuron types to brain circuits during sexual maturation is an important mechanism for the generation of sexually dimorphic plasticity in learning.

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1038/nature15700

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